Huo Qingtong left the camp feeling lonely andconfused. "I'll go to my teachers' home at PreciousMountain and lose myself in the desert with them," shethought. She was unwell, and even though her kung futraining enabled her to keep going, after ten daystravelling across the desert, she was absolutelyexhausted and still four or five days from the home ofthe Tianshan Eagles. Finally, she stopped beside asmall sand dune and let her horse graze on the sparse,dry grasses nearby.

　　She set up her tent and slept for several hours. Inthe middle of the night she was awakened by the soundof three horses approaching from the east. As theyneared the sand dune, they slowed and headed for thesame patch of dry grass that had attracted her mount.

　　The horses were unwilling to continue, so the threeriders dismounted to rest. They did not see HuoQingtong's tent, which was on the other side of thedune. She heard them talking Chinese, but she wasstill sleepy and did not bother to listen closely.

　　Suddenly, however, she heard one of the men say: "Thatdamned bitch! If I don't skin her alive and rip outall her tendons, then my name isn't Gu.""Brother Yan's kungfu was excellent," said another. "Idon't believe that a girl could kill him without usingsome sort of trickery.""Well, of course," added a third. "As I said, we haveto be very careful. There are a lot of Muslimsaround."Huo Qingtong realised in astonishment that they werethe Guandong Devils and that they were talking abouther.

　　"There's not much water left in the satchel and wedon't know how many more days we have to go before wefind water again," one of them said. "From tomorrow,we'll have to drink even less." Soon afterwards, theywent to sleep.

　　Huo Qingtong was uncertain of what to do. The desertwas flat and empty for miles in every direction, sothere was no way she could escape if they found her,especially as she was still sick. After some thought,she decided the safest course would be to revealherself, and find some way to lead the three to herteacher's home.

　　Early next morning, the Guandong Devils woke to findHuo Qingtong standing in front of them. She examinedthem carefully. One was a tall man who looked like amember of the gentry. The second had a thick blackbeard, while the third was wearing Mongol clothes.

　　"Mistress, do you have any water to spare?" the firstman, Tang, asked her, pulling out a silver ingot as hespoke. Huo Qingtong shook her head to indicate she didnot understand Chinese. The Mongol, who was namedHahetai, repeated the request in Mongolian and shereplied in the same tongue: "I cannot give you any ofmy water. The Yellow-Robed Lady, Mistress HuoQingtong, sent me on an important errand and I am nowreturning to report." She quickly dismantled her tentand mounted her horse. Hahetai ran forward and grabbedhold of her horse's reins.

　　"Where is she?" he asked.

　　"Why do you want to know?""We are her friends. There is urgent news we have topass on to her."Huo Qingtong pouted. "That's an outright lie! She isat Precious Mountain, but you are heading west. Don'ttry to cheat me!"Hahetai turned to the other two and said: "She's onher way to see the damned bitch now."With her unhealthy appearance and the way she wheezedas she spoke, she did not look at all like someone whoknew kung fu. So not suspecting her in the slightest,the Devils took advantage of what they took to be herignorance of Chinese and loudly discussed how theywould kill her when they reached Precious Mountain,and then go to find Huo Qingtong. The bearded man, Gu,could see that she was very beautiful despite herhaggard look, and his lust began to stir.

　　Huo Qingtong noticed him constantly staring at hercovetously, and knew that even though they had notrecognised her, travelling alone for four or five dayswith these three Devils was too dangerous. She rippeda strip of material off her jacket and tied it roundthe leg of one of her two eagles then threw the birdup into the air. It spread its wings and flew offtowards the horizon.

　　"What are you doing?" Tang demanded suspiciously. HuoQingtong shook her head, and Hahetai translated whathe had said into Mongolian.

　　"There are no more water springs for another seven oreight days. You've got so little water, how could itbe enough? I'm letting the eagles go so they can goand find water themselves." As she spoke, she releasedthe second eagle.

　　"Two eagles wouldn't drink very much water," Tangreplied.

　　"When you're dying of thirst, even a drop may beenough to save your life." Afraid they would try toharm her, she had exaggerated the distance to the nextwater.

　　Hahetai mumbled oaths. "Even in the deserts ofMongolia, you would never have to travel for seven oreight days without water. This is a cursed region!"They camped that night in the middle of the desert.

　　Huo Qingtong could see Gu's gaze constantly sweepingover her and became very worried. She went into hertent, drew her sword, and sat down beside the tententrance, not daring to sleep. Towards midnight, sheheard someone tiptoeing over. Suddenly, the tent flapopened and Gu crept inside. He began feeling about inthe darkness for her, and an instant later, felt anicy coldness on his neck as a sharp blade gentlytouched it.

　　"If you so much as twitch, I will run it through you,"Huo Qingtong whispered. "Lie on the ground!" Heimmediately complied. She placed the tip of the swordon his back, then sat down and wondered what sheshould do.

　　"If I kill him, the other two won't let me get awaywith it," she thought. "It's probably best to wait formy teacher to get here."A couple of hours later, Tang woke and noticed Gu wasmissing. He jumped up and began shouting "Brother Gu!

　　Brother Gu!""Answer him quickly," Huo Qingtong whispered fiercely.

　　"Tell him you're here.""It's all right, Brother, I'm here!" he shouted back,well aware that he had no choice.

　　Tang laughed. "You horny old thief! You'll neverchange."The next morning, Huo Qingtong waited until the othertwo were up before letting Gu out.

　　"Brother Gu," Hahetai berated him as he emerged. "Wehave come to seek revenge not to make trouble." Gu'steeth were almost chattering with hate but he didn'ttell them what had happened. If he did, the shame ofit would follow him for the rest of his life. But hedecided that he would have the girl the followingnight and then kill her.

　　At about midnight, Gu advanced on Huo Qingtong's tentagain, a spear in one hand and a torch in the other.

　　As he entered, he saw her crouching in the far cornerand lunged at her triumphantly. But suddenly he feltsomething cut into his legs as a rope noose hidden onthe ground caught him. Huo Qingting gave it a tug andhe overbalanced and fell heavily.

　　"Don't move!" she hissed, and placed the tip of hersword against his stomach. She didn't think she couldnot stand another night like the previous one, butkilling Gu was not enough. She had to finish off allthree.

　　"Tell your elder brother to come over here," shewhispered. Gu guessed what she was planning andremained silent. She increased the pressure so thatthe sword cut through his clothes and the top layer ofskin. Gu knew a sword in the stomach was the mostpainful way to die. "He won't come," he whisperedback.

　　"All right, then I'll kill you first," she replied,and the sword moved again.

　　"Elder Brother! Come here! Come quickly!" Gu calledfrantically.

　　"Laugh," Huo Qingtong ordered. Gu frowned and utteredseveral dry laughs.

　　"Laugh more happily!"He silently cursed her, but with the sword alreadyinside his flesh, he forced out a loud hystericallaugh. Tang and Hahetai had already been awakened bythe racket.

　　"Stop playing around, Brother, and conserve some ofyour strength," Tang yelled.

　　Huo Qingtong could see he wouldn't come. "Call theother one," she hissed, and Gu shouted out again.

　　Although he was a bandit, Hahetai did not takeadvantage of women, and he was very unhappy with Gu'sbehaviour. But he was his sworn brother, so he justpretended not to hear.

　　"If I don't kill these three, it is going to bedifficult to free myself of today's shame," shethought. Holding the sword in her right hand, shewound the rope round and round Gu until he could notmove. Only then did she relax. She leant against theside of the tent, but did not dare to fall asleep.

　　The next morning, as it grew light, she saw that Guwas fast asleep and angrily whipped him awake with herhorse's whip. She placed the tip of her sword on hisheart and said: "If you so much as grunt, I willskewer you!" She wondered again whether she shouldkill him, but decided that it would immediately bringdisaster down on her head. She estimated her teachershould reach them by that afternoon anyway, so afteruntying the rope, she pushed Gu out of the tent.

　　Tang looked at the bloody welts on his facesuspiciously. "Who is this girl?" he asked in a lowvoice. "What's she up to?"Gu glanced meaningfully at him. "Let's grab her," hesaid. The two men started to walk slowly towards her,but she saw them coming and ran over to the horses.

　　She pulled out her sword and punctured Gu's andHahetai's water bags, then grabbed the largest ofTang's water bags and jumped onto her own horse. TheThree Devils stood watching dumbly for a second as theprecious water drained out of the two water bags andwas instantly swallowed by the sand, then charged ather angrily.

　　She lay along the horse's back breathing heavily. "Ifyou come a step closer, I'll slash this bag too," shewheezed. The Three Devils stopped.

　　"I agreed to take you to see Mistress Huo Qingtong andin return you bully me," she added when she hadrecovered slightly. "From here to the next water issix days travelling. If you don't leave me alone, I'llslash this bag too and we will all die of thirst.""We won't harm you," protested Tang.

　　"Let's go," she ordered. "You three first." So theyrode on across the desert, the three men in front, thegirl behind.

　　By noon, the burning sun was riding high in the sky,and their lips and tongues were parched dry. HuoQingtong began to see stars before her eyes andmoments of faintness swept over her. She wondered ifshe was going to die.

　　"Hey! Give us some water!" she heard Hahetai shout.

　　She shook herself awake.

　　"Take out a bowl and put it on the ground," shereplied. Hahetai did as she said. "Now retreat onehundred paces." Gu hesitated suspiciously. "If youdon't, you won't get any water," she added. Theycursed her, but retreated. Huo Qingtong rode forward,undid the cap of the water bag and filled the bowl,then rode away again. The three men ran over to thebowl and took turns at gulping down the liquid.

　　They continued on their way, and about four hourslater green grass began to appear beside the road.

　　Tang's eyes lit up. "There must be water ahead!" heshouted. Huo Qingtong was worried. She tried to thinkof some course of action, but her head was splittingwith pain. Suddenly, there was a long eagle's cry fromabove and she looked up to see a black shape swoopingdownwards. Overjoyed, she raised her arm and the eaglelanded on her shoulder. She saw a piece of blackmaterial fastened to one of its legs and knew herteacher would arrive soon.

　　Tang could see something funny was going on, and witha wave of his hand sent a sleeve dart flying towardsHuo Qingtong's right wrist, hoping to knock the swordfrom her grasp. But she blocked the dart with hersword and with a wave of the reins, galloped aroundthem and into the lead. The Three Devils beganshouting and chased after her. After two or threemiles, her legs and arms were numb, and she could holdon no longer. The horse gave a jolt and she toppled tothe ground.

　　The Three Devils spurred their horses on. Huo Qingtongstruggled to get back onto the horse, but she was tooweak. Then in a flash of inspiration, she slung thewater bag's leather strap over the eagle's neck andthrew the bird up into the air. Tang and the othe............